Change You Can Xerox..Biden’s Past Plagerism

Jake Tapper @ Political Punch had this Biden item……

August 22, 2008 11:41 PM – Jake Tapper

Remember that clunker of a zinger from Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-NY?

Trying to make hay out of Sen. Barack Obama’s use — with permission but not attribution — of some language from previous speeches by Gov. Deval Patrick, D-Mass., Clinton essentially called Obama a copycat.

The controversy soon died down.

But lest we forget, the man whom Obama has chosen as his running mate — Sen. Joe Biden, D-Del. — has an episode in his past where he used someone else’s lofty rhetoric, unattributed, as well.

Biden withdrew from the Democratic primaries for the 1988 presidential campaign after it turned out he had lifted passages from British Labour Party leader Neil Kinnock without attribution.

“Stupid,” an older, wiser Biden judged for ABC News’ Charlie Gibson twenty years later, for a profile of the major 2008 presidential contenders. “My mistake. Born out of ignorance, thinking I didn’t have to prepare. And I didn’t deserve to be the nominee. And all of a sudden, internationally, I’m this guy who cuts corners, who isn’t honest, who’s using other people’s words. And it was, it was, man, it was, it was terrible.”

The episodes are not completely similar. And Democrats sure feel confident that the problems in the U.S. right now will overshadow political kerfuffles like these.

But I’d sure expect Republicans to make hay out of it all.

– jpt

August 22, 2008 | Permalink